The 12 Best Winter Holiday Drinks

Gifts? Decorations? Sure. But what you really need to enjoy the holidays is booze, and lots of it. Forget the eggnog—these holiday drinks from city mixmasters will have you fa-la-la-la-la-ing all over yourself.

Canadian Punch

Mike Treffehn, Franklin Mortage & Investment Co.

In a large container, place 1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cubed; 8 lemons, scrubbed and thinly sliced; two 750-milliliter bottles of rye (Old Overholt or Jim Beam will work just fine); and one 750-milliliter bottle of Appleton Estate V/X rum. Infuse for at least six hours. Mix a cup and a half of sugar and 3 quarts of water, and add to your punch. Refrigerate for a few hours, then add a big piece of ice and serve. If you feel like some fizz, cut back on the water and replace with club soda, adding right before serving. Ladle into small cups.

Hot Brick Toddy

Old Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guide

Into a hot whiskey glass put:

1 tsp. butter

1 tsp. powdered sugar

3 pinches cinnamon

1 oz. hot water

Let dissolve thoroughly, then add:

1 ½ oz. rye or bourbon whiskey

Fill with boiling water and stir.

Apple Pie Moonshine

George Reilly, Twisted Tail

1 oz. Apple Pie Moonshine

1/4 oz. lemon juice

2 dashes whiskey-barrel-aged bitters

6 oz. wheat beer

For the Apple Pie Moonshine: Core 2 apples, leaving the rest of the apple intact. Insert 2 sticks of cinnamon into the center of the apples and set them into a baking pan. Cut 5 knobs of butter and place around apples. Sprinkle the apples with Demerara sugar. Bake at 450˚ for 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Put apples into an infusion jar. Pour a full bottle of your favorite moonshine over the apples and let sit at room temperature for a week. Strain contents of jar to remove any solids and rebottle for use. For the cocktail: Mix ingredients, minus the beer, over ice in a mason jar. Stir. Add beer. Garnish with a cinnamon-sugar-coated apple slice.

Saigon Flip

Lê, Hop Sing Laundromat

2 oz. Don Q Gran Añejo rum

1/4 oz. Licor 43

1 oz. condensed milk

1/2 oz. lime juice

2-3 orange twists, squeezed and left inside shaker

Shake all ingredients with 5 ice cubes, then strain into an old-fashioned glass with a large ice cube or crushed ice; serve with a bottle of Fever Tree club soda on the side. Add any muddled berry to change the flavor to your liking. Garnish with orange twists.

You Know How to Wassail, Dontcha?

Phoebe Esmon, Bar Emmanuelle

1 oz. Rittenhouse bonded rye

1 oz. Laird’s bonded apple brandy

1/2 oz. ginger syrup

5 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes orange bitters

Add all ingredients to a shaker full of ice. Stir well (don't shake) with a long spoon and serve over a single large ice cube in a rocks glass, with a clove-studded orange peel as garnish.

La Sainte Grenade Á Main D'Antioche

Phoebe Esmon

1.5 oz. Landy VS cognac

1/2 oz. 2:1 orange blossom honey syrup

1 bar spoon fig jam

Blanc de blancs champagne

Shake all ingredients except champagne with ice. Strain twice into fluted champagne glass, top with champagne, and garnish with a long orange peel.

General Tso's Chocolate Shake

Lê

1.75 oz. Double Cross vodka

3/4 oz. Meletti Cioccolato chocolate liqueur

1/2 oz. Avion espresso liqueur

1 oz. half-and-half

4-5 muddled raspberries

Add all ingredients plus 5 ice cubes to shaker and shake vigorously. Serve over ice in a Collins glass, garnished with orange zest and strawberry.

Yards Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale

Yards Brewing Company

Open bottle, pour into any convenient glass, drink, repeat.

Down the Chimney

George Reilly

1.5 oz. mezcal plato

3/4 oz. sweet vermouth

1/2 oz. orange juice

1/4 oz. lemon juice

2 dashes orange bitters

2 dashes cherry bitters

6 marasca cherries

Light a cinnamon stick on fire so it smokes. Set it on the counter with a martini glass inverted over the top, to suffocate the flame. Let sit while making the cocktail. Muddle 5 maraca cherries in a splash of club soda in bottom of a shaker tin. Add ice and the rest of the ingredients, then shake hard and strain into the cinnamon-smoked martini glass. Garnish with an orange twist and the remaining marasca cherry.

151 Swizzle

Mike Treffehn

1.5 oz. Lemon Hart 151 rum

3/4 oz. fresh lime juice

3/4 oz. rich Demerara syrup

Dash Angostura bitters

6 drops absinthe

Add all ingredients to a tall hurricane glass filled with crushed ice. Jiggle with a bar spoon, agitating the ingredients and ice until they’re well mixed and there’s a frosty exterior to your glass. Add straws, grate some nutmeg on top, and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Santa's Tipple

George Reilly

1 ½ oz. double-barreled bourbon (such as Maker's 46)

¾ oz. Pedro Ximénez sherry

2 dashes black walnut bitters

Absinthe rinse

Combine all ingredients except absinthe in a shaker over ice. Stir, don’t shake. Rinse a rocks glass with the absinthe and pour out any excess. Fill glass with fresh ice. Strain cocktail into glass and garnish with dried cranberries rehydrated in bourbon syrup.

Gin Alexander

Mike Treffehn

1 oz. gin (Plymouth works nicely; I also like an even split of Hayman’s and Ransom Old Tom)

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Vic Nebulous

Great selection. But also try The House of Leaves at Stateside on East Passayunk!!